BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday on drought seems to have had the expected result with Union Home Minister Amit Shah likely to call a meeting of the high-powered committee on natural calamity on December 23 to decide on releasing funds to the state.
After a delegation led by Siddaramaiah met Shah on Wednesday, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told reporters in New Delhi that the Union minister was convinced to hold the meeting.
“The home minister promised us that he will call the meeting and decide. We told him that since state farmers are in distress, a decision should be taken and funds released as early as possible,” he said.
“The Centre has old census data that puts the number of small and marginal farmers at 44 per cent. But we provided actual data that shows their number at 70-80 per cent. We urged him that this fact should be considered while releasing the funds,” he explained. Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka Dr L Hanumanthaiah and GC Chandrashekar were part of the delegation.
Siddaramaiah, who met Modi along with Gowda on Tuesday, had appealed to the PM to direct Shah, who chairs the high-powered committee on natural calamity, to hold a meeting.
After meeting Shah on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah told reporters that he urged the minister to release Rs 18,177.44 crore towards drought relief. Of that total amount, Rs 4,663.12 crore was sought for input subsidies, Rs 12,577.86 crore for gratuitous relief, Rs 566.78 crore for drinking water and Rs 363.68 crore for animal husbandry interventions, he said.
He said 223 out of the 236 taluks in the state are drought-hit, while 196 taluks are severely affected. Agriculture and horticulture crops across 48.19 lakh hectares have been lost. The National Disaster Response Fund has been requested for an input subsidy of Rs 4,663.12 crore, he added.
Though the state is eligible for Rs 18,177.44 crore, the Centre may release a quarter of that amount as first instalment, sources said.
Siddaramaiah, through a series of posts on X, claimed that he put forth five key demands before Modi -- the immediate release of drought relief funds, increase in mandays from 100 to 150 days per head per annum under MGNREGA, the release of grants to take up Upper Bhadra Project, environmental clearance for Mahadayi project and permission to take up Mekedatu balancing reservoir project. “Can Modi safeguard the interests of Kannadiga?” was his punchline.